2010 has been a make or break year for many online businesses, or web-based projects. Ultimately, your online campaigns will succeed or fail – the middle ground between the two is thin.
A successful online marketing campaign will deliver x% revenue increase over 2009 results… y% increase in your lead generation efforts … or z% increase in your campaign ROI….
Every other aspect? Well, if there’s no increase in the 3 key factors listed above, it’s hard to place a Gold Star next to your marketing efforts.
You can be sure that the same grading is used by every one of your competitors. Thinking of placing a report on your MD’s desk highlighting an increase in traffic or an increase in website impressions? It’s unlike to hold weight particularly when it’s sat alongside your Financial Director’s latest P&L spreadsheets.
80% of Internet Users are members of the Union of Google… they place their trust in Google to deliver them true and relevant search results….
Number 1 search rankings on Google for your key industry terms… AKA ‘the online golden ticket’ will build, or at least SHOULD build, success in each of the 3 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) listed above.
That Number 1 listing is governed by Google. Fortunately, for the most part, Google works as the Union Leader of all web searchers... it spends each and every second rampaging its way through every website, every article and every word on the Internet. It’s the business world’s greatest critic. It can make or break your online business.
When Google comes to visit, you need to impress with your site performance…. and what does Google like to see most? Relevant and fresh content.
Content that it’s users want to read… content which is deemed relevant to the Google Union. Lee Odden has published a fantastic article entitled “Content or Die” challenging businesses to review their existing content in 2010 in order to survive online. A website offering little in the way of “news” or topical content is a website perceived by Google as stale… when Google revisits your site and witnesses the ‘same old’ content… it holds back on telling it’s users about your site… it drops you from the Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) quicker than a virtual trapdoor…. and it hurts, because there’s a hell of a long way to fall.
If progress on the web, and I measure progress again by the 3 business KPIs mentioned at the beginning of this article, is important to you in 2010 then now is the time to rewrite your online strategy. The halls of your marketing department should be echoing the mantra “Content is King”… if you’ve got nothing to say, nothing to shout about, then now is the time to focus on your traditional marketing and allocate your online budget back to print.
B2B businesses are particularly vunerable to the power of Google. Whilst B2C retailers can build their online model delivering content to all demographics, many B2B business develop their prospects within niche industries. Web researchers need to find you… and Google needs to approve you.
To summarise, 2010 is the year where the simple 5 page “Home – Products – Services – About Us – Contact Us” site structure will severely struggle to build you any form of business online. Take the time today to check what your competitors are doing… if you can’t find them, I’d recommend a quick visit to Google.co.uk and type in a popular term from your industry… just the same way your potential prospects are doing each and every minute
..I'm the one on the left.
About The Author;
Ian’s career within the Search Marketing industry spans longer than Google’s! Since 1996 Ian Rhodes has worked with a wide range of UK and International businesses developing strategic online marketing campaigns that deliver winning results.
Prior to his consulting career, Ian worked for one of the UK’s first online retail businesses delivering cost-effective online campaigns centred around SEO and Affiliate Marketing. His success led to him being recruited as the European Marketing Director for the world’s largest online travel company. In 2004 he practiced what he preached setting up, from scratch, his own highly successful online retail business turning over £2mill in the first 4 years of trading…purely through a mixture of SEO and Paid Search Advertising.
If you’re looking to build your online revenue or lead generation techniques simply click Contact Ian and see how you can work together to start building your online business today.
